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Housing associations are independent, not-for-profit organisations that provide social housing for those in need. They are also known as ‘registered social landlords’ or ‘private registered providers of social housing’.

NB: In November 2016, the Office for National Statistics reclassified housing associations as private bodies rather than public bodies. This removed £70 billion from public debt and opened the way for housing associations to increase their borrowing, reversing their classification as public bodies in 2015.

Housing associations provide homes to people on low incomes or in need of extra help. They provide approximately two and a half million rented homes in England (ref. NHF, 2014). It is possible to apply for homes either:

The 1996 HousingAct introduced the Right to Acquire. This is a statutory right for housing associationtenants to acquire their homes at a discounted price from the open market value. The right is applied to eligible tenants living in eligible properties. A tenant can buy their home with a joint tenant or with up to 3 family members who have lived in that property for the past 12 months.

Housing associations are key partners in regeneration schemes around England. This includes the Market Renewal Pathfinders in northern and central England. Housing associations are also involved in refurbishing and enhancing ex-councilestates through stock transfer programmes.

In September 2018, in a speech at the National Housing Federation Summit, Prime Minister Theresa May affirmed the "central role" of housing associations and announced £2 billion funding for new affordable and social housing.

As well as setting out the steps that government has taken to date, including providing long-term certainty on rents and agreeing not to extend the local housing allowance cap to the social sector, the announcement of new funding was intended to give housing associations more long-term certainty, stretching ahead to 2028/29. However, critics raised the point that the funding will only be available from 2022.

But she called on housing associations to step up their output, saying, "rather than simply acquiring a proportion of the properties commercial developersbuild, I want to see housing associations taking on and leading major developments themselves. Because creating the kind of large-scale, high-qualitydevelopments this country needs requires a special kind of leadership – leadership you are uniquely well-placed to provide."

"For many people, a certain stigma still clings to social housing. Some residents feel marginalised and overlooked, and are ashamed to share the fact that their home belongs to a housing association or local authority. And on the outside, many people in society – including too many politicians – continue to look down on social housing and, by extension, the people who call it their home …We should never see social housing as something that need simply be 'good enough', nor think that the people who live in it should be grateful for their safety net and expect no better."